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An intoxicated man uttering threats at a bar led to a nearly eight-hour standoff in Lloydminster on Saturday.

At around 5:20 p.m. RCMP received a report of an intoxicated man uttering threats at a liquor establishment. When they arrived to make the arrest he resisted and barricaded himself in a 48 Street residence between 48 and 49 Avenue.

"We attempted to negotiate with him to surrender himself peacefully, but instead of doing that he used a (knife) to injure himself and escalated it to a point where it wasn't a simple matter," said Cpl. Grant Rusk with Lloydminster RCMP.

Police evacuated several surrounding blocks while they waited for an emergency response team from Edmonton to arrive. The fire department was put on standby after the suspect threatened to burn down the building and claimed there were flammable liquids on hand.

In total there were about 16 ERT members, plus local RCMP, the fire department, and city officials helping set up barricades.

The suspect's name has not been released but Rusk said he is known to police.

After a long stalemate, there were several loud bangs and flashes - which Rusk said came from the ERT team - and the suspect was in custody by 1 a.m.

"They were forced to go in and physically find him and remove him from the residence," said Rusk. "They were able to successfully remove him from the apartment using special tactics and there were no injuries.

"There was some indication that he actually tried to light a fire inside the residence."

He'll be charged for threatening to start a fire, carrying a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief charges - because he didn't own the residence - and resisting arrest.

Over the course of the incident there was a man who claimed to be a police officer trying to get past the police perimeter.

"We had one fellow involving himself in the incident and presented himself as a member of the RCMP," said Rusk. "This wasn't a matter of him trying to get into his residence because he left something there, it was simply him trying to interfere with the investigation and get inside the containment area."